A Blotch on the Canvas
by Pegaraffeasaurus
Summary: Color Blotch is a young unicorn who has never been given the chance to meet his father for all thirteen years of his life. When trouble arises and he needs help getting his mother to the hospital, he sees it as the perfect opportunity to pull his family back together. Unfortunately, his efforts may have produced turmoil rather than reunion...
1. Chapter 1

"Dad!"

Lightning Dash froze. He looked to his right as he saw a young blue and white unicorn gallop towards him. His wife and daughter traveling beside him watched with quizzical faces as the unicorn cried out once more.

"Dad, is that you?"

The unicorn's face was now only inches from Lightning's.

Color Blotch's hoarse 13-year-old voice trembled. His white-tipped ears were wilted, and the fur on his cheeks was crisp with dried tears.

Lightning Dash spread his large black wings and cleared his throat, staring, confused, back into Color Blotch's worried red-orange eyes.

"Um… Do I know you?"

"Yes, dad, it's me, Color Blotch! Your son!"

Lightning Dash stuttered with his speech.

"I... I don't have a son."

"Well forget about me, I need your help!"

Color Blotch's eyes watered, and the heart behind the splash of purple fur on his chest beat quickly with panic.

Without responding, Lightning Dash encircled Color Blotch, observing everything about him from his yellow, green, and black mane to his navy blue coat and white horn and hooves. He glanced at his flank and hesitated. A yellow wooden paintbrush within a spiral of red marks was imprinted upon Color Blotch's hindquarters.

"That cutie mark... a unicorn... those eyes..."

Lightning Dash's heart dropped.

"Oh no. No, it can't be!"

Looking very confused and disgruntled, Lightning's 16-year-old daughter Clover spoke up.

"Dad, what is he talking about? What's going on?"

After tilting her head, trying to make sense of the situation, Lightning's wife Derpy Hooves let out a sudden gasp of realization, clamping her hooves over her mouth.

"Dad, it's mom. She's in trouble," Blotch exclaimed once more.

Taking a deep swallow, Lightning Dash lowered his wings heavily.

"And who, might I ask, is your mother?"

"Color Flourish."


	2. Chapter 2

Lightning Dash's face was twisted between shock and concern. His fears were confirmed.

"Oh, Lightning..." Derpy whimpered.

Clover stood puzzled, her hoof on her chin.

"Color Flourish... Oh yeah! The artist. I visited her place a couple times when I was younger. She always baked me cookies. Wait, dad, isn't she your ex? ...Oh... Oh my. I see."

Clover frowned.

"So... so this is my half-brother?"

Color Blotch ignored her and stomped his hoof impatiently.

"Dad! Listen! Mom needs help! She's badly hurt!"

Lightning Dash caught himself with his mouth open, shutting it quickly.

"I... She is? Uh...okay... Where is she?"

"She's back at home, in the studio. She wouldn't wake up, I think she's unconscious... And I thought I saw blood... We have to hurry!"

Lightning was already devising a plan. He turned towards Derpy.

"Go ahead and take Clover with you to the hospital, we'll meet you there."

Lightning Dash began to gallop, his wings spread wide. He knew the way. He would always stop and stand outside of Flourish's Art Studio whenever he passed by, wondering what she was up to.

Color Blotch galloped surprisingly as fast as Lightning, keeping to his left.

"So, why me? You could have called on anypony for help," Lightning Dash huffed, breathing quickly as he ran.

Color Blotch hesitated with his response.

"You're one of the only other adults I trust."

Lightning slowed to a halt and burst open the wooden door with the paint palette on the front. He snaked his way through a mess of paintbrushes, canvases, and boxes of supplies.

Turning the corner, Lightning Dash's heart rate soared.

There she lay, in a lifeless heap. Color Flourish's lime-green fur was covered in a fresh, thick coat of lavender paint. She seemed to have taken a hard hit to the head, and the blood had visibly trickled into her creamy yellow mane.

Lightning Dash gasped and rushed to Flourish's side, holding her in his hooves. He stroked her hair gently, trying to get a better look at the wound.

"It would seem this paint can fell on her. It's just a simple head injury. She'll still need medical attention, though. I'll fly her to the hospital. Think you'll be able to keep up?"

"Way ahead of you."

Color Blotch's horn lit up and he levitated himself off the ground.

"Then let's fly!"


	3. Chapter 3

Lightning Dash held a very limp Color Flourish in his hooves, flapping his grand wings mightily. Color Blotch tailed along, engulfed in a glittering purple levitation spell.

"Aren't you a bit young to be strong enough to levitate yourself?" Lightning Dash questioned.

Color Blotch smiled.

"I learned from the best. Mom taught me everything she knows."

"That explains it. Your mother was rather talented in spellwork during her school years."

Lightning descended to the ground, now carrying Color Flourish on his back, holding her down with his wings.

He and Blotch trotted to the Emergency Department of the hospital, their faces now passive.

"I'm here to check in a unicorn by the name of 'Color Flourish'. She displays evidence of mild head injuries and unconsciousness," Lightning Dash relayed to the pony at the front desk.

"We'll get her examined right away, sir."

A medical employee brought in a wheeled bed as Lightning unfolded his wings and allowed Color Flourish to roll onto it.

Color Blotch stared as his mother was whisked off down a long white corridor.

"Will she be alright?"

"You've got nothing to worry about. She's one of the toughest mares I know."

Lightning Dash stared into Color Blotch's gleaming orange eyes, the ones so much like his own. He smiled.

Blotch lunged at Lightning's chest and wrapped his hooves around his neck, squeezing tightly.

"I love you, dad."

Speechless, Lightning Dash could do nothing more than hug back.


	4. Chapter 4

Derpy sat with her daughter on a waiting room couch, her crossed eyes staring miserably off into the distance.

Clover, who was very absorbed in the magazine she was reading, did not notice when her mother flung herself at her father, who had just entered the room.

Derpy stared into Lightning Dash's eyes, allowing a tear to roll down her cheek.

She opened her mouth to speak, her lips quivering.

"I –"

"Shhh... It's okay," Lightning Dash whispered, putting his hoof to her lips.

He wiped away her tear and leaned his forehead against hers.

"We'll work this out."

Lightning kissed Derpy gently on the cheek, and she returned to her spot on the couch.

Lightning Dash found a seat next to Color Blotch and slumped into it, sighing deeply.

The long silence that followed was only broken by the occasional crinkled page turn of Clover's magazine.

After approximately ten minutes, Lightning Dash cleared his throat.

"So, Color Blotch, um, does your mother talk about me much?"

"Oh, don't get me started," Color Blotch said, rolling his eyes.

"You're practically all she ever talks about. She has several periods of time throughout the year when she goes into deep thought about you, and gets caught under a one or two-day wave of depression. She doesn't dare step out of her bedroom when she does this, so I always have to take charge of the shop. I'm used to it by now."

"That's terrible! I had no idea," Lightning said, pity seeping through his voice.

"Does it ever interfere with her career?"

"You could certainly say that," Color Blotch mumbled.

"Her depression has been getting worse lately, and if she doesn't start painting soon, we're going to start losing a lot of money."

"Celestia... All that and she still manages to raise you..."

Color Blotch shrugged.

"She has her issues, but I love her dearly. Mom and I are best buds, we do everything together."

Color Blotch seemed to smile at an invisible heartwarming memory.

"She'll even let me sell my own artwork, just like she does."

Lightning Dash buried his face in his hoof, squeezing his eyes together tightly, forcing out the buildup of tears that had been welling up in his eyes. With a loud sniff, he wiped his cheeks violently.

"Dad? Are you... crying?"

"No!" Lightning shouted a bit too loudly.

"No, I'm not..."

Lightning Dash leaned in closely to Color Blotch's ear.

"I love her too, son. I really do."


	5. Chapter 5

A day had passed.

Color Blotch charged through the hospital doors, galloping gleefully to the registry desk.

Lightning Dash, Derpy, and Clover trotted after him slowly, their faces comparatively grim.

"We're here to visit 'Color Flourish'," Blotch said, smiling brightly at the milky-blue pony sitting at the desk.

"Room one nineteen," she responded, summoning a nurse to guide Color Blotch and his company down the hallway.

"Try to keep quiet," the nurse whispered. "She's resting right now."

The door opened, and the quartet shuffled in silently, positioning themselves in different seats throughout the white, sterile-smelling hospital room.

Derpy sat next to Clover in the far corner of the room, sulking and trying to hide her face with her wings. Clover watched the vaguely familiar green unicorn lying in the hospital bed with curiosity. Color Blotch sat himself down directly next to the bed and rested his head on his mother's hoof. Lightning Dash sat in a chair across from Color Flourish, his hooves in his lap and his concerned, gloomy eyes trained on Flourish's empty closed ones.

Color Flourish awoke to the soft touch of a furry dark-blue muzzle against hers, and the sight of two bright red-orange eyes gleaming happily into her own dark aquamarine irises.

"Hey, Blotchy," Color Flourish mumbled with a smile.

Color Blotch lunged playfully at his mother with an attack hug, squeezing a hearty "oof" out of Flourish's mouth.

"Hey, just because I'm awake doesn't mean you're allowed to knock me out again," Color Flourish said, grinning widely now.

Color Blotch looked at his mother lovingly.

"I'm so glad you're awake!"

"Me too, kiddo!"

Color Flourish suddenly grabbed Blotch in a headlock.

"Come here, you."

Color Blotch giggled as Flourish ruffled his hair with her hoof.

The sound of a familiar soft chuckle perked Color Flourish's ears up. She'd know that voice anywhere. Her head shot upwards and her smile quickly faded.

There sat the tall, black stallion that she loved so dearly with all her heart. The same stallion that had left her in the dust all those years ago.

"Wha- What are you doing here?" Color Flourish asked in as gentle of a tone as she could muster. The pain in her voice was clearly evident.

"Dad brought you here," Color Blotch answered. "A paint can fell on your head at the studio and you went unconscious."

"W- Wait, you- _Color Dash Blotch_! What did I tell you about talking to your father?!" Color Flourish suddenly scolded.

"I know, I know, I'm not supposed to talk to him, but I really wanted to meet him! Please, momma, I… I just had to call on him for help!"

Color Flourish let out a loud agitated sigh.

"I'm sorry. It's not your fault. It's my fault for keeping the two of you a secret from each other for so long."

Lightning Dash got up from his seat.

"Should I leave?"

"No! No, please stay."

It was the first time Lightning Dash and Color Flourish had talked to each other in years.

"Lightning, there are many things I probably should have told you a long time ago," Color Flourish began, closing her eyes and hanging her head.

"Maybe you could start by explaining why we have a son," Lightning Dash said, trying to hide the anger building up within him.

"The conception of our son was not your fault. It was mine."

"...What?"

"About fourteen years ago, I was painting a picture of, well... you. I was using my magic to try to mix blue and purple paints to get the beautiful indigo color of your mane. That particular day, I was feeling especially strong about you. My emotions became too strong, and they overpowered my mixing spell. By complete accident, I mixed not paints, but our very souls and personalities. And this little colt," Color Flourish placed her hoof on Color Blotch's head, "was the result."

Lightning Dash was speechless. The room remained quiet.

Suddenly, Derpy bolted out of her chair and screamed at Color Flourish.

"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!!! YOU RUINED MY LIGHTNING'S LIFE, AND YOU RUINED THIS FAMILY!!!"

Every strand of fur on Derpy's face was sopping wet and dripping with tears.

"Please, Mrs. Hooves! I had no intention of doing such a thing!"

Color Flourish herself looked on the verge of crying.

"Derpy, honey, please calm down!"

Lightning Dash rushed out of his seat and wrapped his wing around her.

"Hey, it's okay, nothing is ruined. I told you we were going to work this out, and we're going to do just that," He whispered gently.

A nurse came barging into the room loudly.

"Is everything alright in here? I heard yelling."

"We're fine..." Color Flourish whimpered, sobbing into Color Blotch's mane.

Color Blotch was also crying, mostly out of fear.

The nurse turned her attention immediately to the extremely sorrowful-looking gray pegasus crying loudly into her husband's chest.

"Are you alright ma'am?"

"Ye- Yes..." Derpy squeaked.

"Should I escort your visitors out?" the nurse asked, now turning to Color Flourish.

"Yes please... I will allow my son to stay," Color Flourish said shakily, holding Color Blotch tightly.

Lightning Dash took one more concerned glance at Color Flourish before stepping out the door with Clover at his side.

The door slammed loudly.

Color Flourish hugged Color Blotch tightly and sobbed even harder.

"I'm sorry momma. I should have just gotten somepony else for help like I was supposed to," Color Blotch sniffed.

"Oh, sweetie, don't apologize. It's not your fault. It never was.

It was my fault since the beginning."


End file.
